


Three Doors Down

by Catrastrophe (KillLaKillMe)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/F, Modern AU, Oh my god they were neighbours
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-11-19 14:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18136982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillLaKillMe/pseuds/Catrastrophe
Summary: When Adora moves into her new apartment, she encounters her mysterious neighbour that lives three doors down. The moment she meets her, she knows there's something that draws her to her. That, and it's obvious that the brown haired woman keeps finding reasons to knock on her door.





	1. Chapter 1

The knock on Adora’s door startled her. She hadn’t been expecting company, or well, anyone at  _ all _ considering she hardly knew anyone in the building yet. She had just moved in a few weeks ago, and peculiarly hadn’t seen any of her neighbours.

Well, that was until she opened her door to find a tall, dark, and handsome young woman leaning up against her doorway. 

Adora’s eyes widened, and she had to pinch her arm to fight the blush that threatened to rise to her features. 

“Sorry to like, bother you or whatever, but,” the mystery woman said, pulling out a measuring cup from behind her back. “But can I borrow some sugar?” 

Adora had seen this before, in many a story she had read, hell, even a few romantic comedies she didn’t quite want to admit she watched. But she never,  _ never _ fathomed that something this cliche could happen to her in real life. 

What kind of person didn’t have sugar in their apartment?

The woman’s eyebrows knitted. “Is..that a no or?”

“Uh...” The blonde started, her mind drawing blanks. What should she say? What was she  _ supposed _ to say? She never thought about these kinds of things. Interacting with people was always one of her weak points, given the fact that she had been kept inside and sheltered her entire life by her foster mother who, given the questionable choices she made, contributed to the quirks that plagued Adora now.

“S-Sure!” she stuttered, stepping aside for the woman to enter her home.

What.

Why did she do that.

_ Why _ did she do that?!

She had no idea who this woman was and here she was just letting her stroll in like she owned the place! Had her limited time in the outside world taught her nothing?! Strangers did  _ not _ belong in her home!

“You look like you’re about to call the police,” the woman said, crossing her arms with a smirk. “Do you think I’m trying to rob you or something?”

Adora’s cheeks flamed. “I—Well—No—You see—”

“Relax Blondie, it was just a joke,” she said patting her shoulder with a good natured laugh. “Would be kind of stupid to try when I live three doors down,”

“Three doors down,” Adora repeated, taking the measuring cup from her neighbour. “Um, I’m, Adora. And you are?”

“Catra,” her neighbour responded with a toothy grin that made Adora’s heart skip a beat. “So, Adora. You just move in? This place has been empty for a while,” she grinned. “It could be haunted.”

Adora rolled her eyes. “Shut up,” she said, pulling the container of sugar from the cupboard. She filled the cup up to the top and handed it back to Catra. “So,” she said with a smirk. “When are you going to give  _ me  _ some sugar?”

It hadn’t exactly dawned on Adora that there were implications to what she had said until the sentence had formerly left her mouth. “That is...I mean, sugar, for me, in return for me helping you,” she struggled, her cheeks flushing. “Not in, that kind of sugar, of course.”

Catra took the measuring cup from her and laughed. “Whoa, we just met. Don’t we have to go on at least one date first?”

Adora’s cheeks puffed out, causing Catra to laugh once again.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, you set me up for it,” the grin on her face made Adora feel things she wasn’t exactly sure she should be feeling. 

“I can kick you out you know,” Adora responded opening the door before folding her arms.

Catra laughed again. “I’m going, I’m going,” she said, putting her arms up in defeat as she backed herself into the hallway. “Though I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other again. Won’t we, Blondie?”

Adora returned her smirk. “Sure.”

The moment the door closed, Adora lost all of her composure. She found herself sliding down the wall in embarrassment as her heart thumped in her ears.

* * *

“So you gave her the sugar?” Glimmer asked,  her chin resting on her hand.

“Yeah!” Adora answered her, her volume a little too loud for the small cafe they were currently in. 

“So what’s the problem?” Bow asked, shrugging. “All she wanted was some sugar.”

“The problem is, I can’t stop thinking about her!” Adora groaned. “I haven’t seen her since! I could have been dreaming the entire thing!”

“You dreamed that you met your hot neighbour who asked you for the most cliche thing in the book?” Glimmer asked, raising a brow. “Dude, she was probably looking for a reason to scope you out.”

Adora’s eyebrows furrowed. “Scope me out?”

“See what she’s working with. You’re fresh meat. You just moved in, and truth to be told, you’re a cute, perky, naive small town girl who just moved to the big city for college. Girls like her? Eat that shit up,” Glimmer told her matter of factly. “Don’t be surprised if she shows up again a few days later looking to ‘borrow’ something else,” she added, using air quotations. 

“You guys are just overreacting,” Adora said, dismissing Glimmer’s warning with a wave of her hand.

“ _ We’re _ the ones overreacting? You’re the one who called an emergency friendship meeting because she made your lady parts feel weird.” Bow responded with a raised brow.

Adora balked. “She  _ did not _ make my lady parts feel weird!”

“You might not want to say that so loud,” Glimmer said, gesturing towards the patrons around them looking their way once again.

“Sorry,” Adora blushed. “But in any case, what if she comes knocking on my door again? Do I ignore her? I don’t want to pretend I’m not home when it’s obvious I’m home! It’s rude!”

“I’m sure she’d get the hint if you don’t trip over yourself trying to open it after the first knock,” Bow teased with a smirk.

“You know what? I think I’m just gonna handle this myself,” Adora huffed standing up. “Last time I ever ask for you guys’ help.”

* * *

 

The next time Catra knocked on her door, Adora was hesitant to get up. She knocked once more, and then Adora heard her step away from the door and shuffle down the hall.

When Adora got home from her classes that evening, she found Catra leaning against her door, a smirk on her face.

“Welcome home, honey,” She greeted, the smirk growing from the sight of Adora’s cheeks beginning to flush. “You didn’t answer earlier so I thought that I’d drop by and see if everything was okay,”

Adora pursed her lips. “Everything _ is _ okay. I go to classes everyday except Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And today is...”

“Monday,” Catra responded, nodding. “Good to know.”

Why that was good for Catra to know Adora would never know, though she realized now that it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her. Well, too late for that now.

“What do you want?” Adora asked her, eyebrow raised. “You can’t possibly need more sugar,”

Catra shrugged. “Nah. I got bored. I wanted to hang out with you.”

“With me?” Adora asked, squinting in suspicion. “Why me? You’re all Urban Outfitters and indie cool. Don’t you have friends to hang out and vape with?”

Catra laughed. “Okay one, I don’t vape. And two, I have friends, but they have lives too.”

Adora rolled her eyes with a laugh. “And you don’t?”

Catra smiled. “You could say that. I drift from interest to interest from time to time. Right now I’m really into music. I bought a really cool second hand guitar. It’s at my place if you wanna see it,” she offered, pointing in the direction of her apartment. 

“That’s...Okay,” Adora responded, shaking her head. She barely knew this girl. There was no way she was going to follow her into her home. Who knew what would happen to her?

Catra nodded. “That’s cool, though don’t think you’re getting out of this that easily,” she said, taking Adora’s keys from her. “You’re still pretty new in town and I think a welcome party is in order,”

Adora scoffed. “Really?”

“Really,” Catra runs a hand through her hair and leans against the wall beside Adora’s door. “Think of me as that one kid the teacher assigns to show you around school. I can show you all the best places in town. From the squeaky clean, to the slightly naughty.”

Adora’s gaze flickered to Catra’s lips for a moment before returning to Catra’s eyes. “Well, I mean, I have an English midterm tomorrow, and—Hey!” she fruitlessly grabbed for the keys Catra had shoved down how pants. “Give them back!”

“One drink,” the other woman tells her, a slender finger poking into her chest. “One drink, and then you can come back home and study for your English midterm like the little goody two shoes you are,” her lips curled at Adora’s pout.

Should she trust her? It was true that she was still new in town, but she had Bow and Glimmer, people she instantly connected with on the first day of classes. Would she connect with Catra like she connected with them? She’d never drank before...and to do so with someone who was basically a stranger was something that would make her foster mother faint.

But...looking into her mismatched eyes, Adora saw something in them. Mischief, excitement, hope maybe. Whatever it was, it tugged at her, and before she knew it, she was giving in. 

Folding her arms, Adora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Fine.”


	2. Chapter 2

At first Adora thought that they’d go to one of the more popular bars that were located by her school. Ones that she heard her classmates drone on about in class after a weekend of partying.

But where Catra took her was no ordinary bar. It was a place tucked deep within what seemed to be the red light district of Bright Moon.

The Horde, it was called, a place filled with the haze of hookah and cigarettes, teeming with people Adora would never be caught dead with.

The bartender was a tall, stocky woman, with shaved white blonde hair and a ton of tattoos. She smiled at them as they sat at the counter, her eyes traveling from Adora to Catra. “Oh, so this is the girl you’ve been talking about,” she said, a slight smirk on her features.

“You’ve been talking about me to people?” The prospect was very confusing to Adora, considering that Catra barely knew her. “What’d she say?”

Catra slammed a twenty down on the counter quite loudly, startling Adora while the barkeep seemed unfazed. “Scorpia, I will let you keep the rest of this if you never open your mouth again,”

The bartender pocketed the bill, her smirk growing. “Well, since you asked so _nicely,”_ she placed two glasses onto the counter, filling them both with whiskey, before sliding them down to the pair.

Catra greedily sipped at her cup, while Adora stared at hers as if it were a foreign object.

“Um I don’t—I’ve never—Do you have club soda?” Adora managed to sputter sheepishly, gently pushing the glass of alcohol away from herself.

“What happened to one drink?” Catra asked her, raising a brow.

“I thought—I didn’t know you _actually_ meant alcoholic! I’ve never drank before!” Adora whispered to her harshly. “My mom would kill me!”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Your mom’s not here,” she told her, pushing the glass in front of her. “You don’t have to drink the whole thing. Just take a sip. If you don’t like it, you can have your club soda.”

Adora puffed out her cheeks, but sighed when Catra folded her arms. “Fine,” she grumbled, picking up the glass of whiskey. “But if I die, it's your fault,”

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra waved her off putting her arm on her chin. “I’ll even pay for the funeral,”

Adora raised a brow, but nonetheless put the cup to her lips. She took an experimental sip, her eyes widening as the harsh burning sensation in her throat  snaked its way to her stomach. “My lungs are on fire,” she coughed, putting the glass back down.

“Good. It means it’s working,” Catra said, smirking. “Maybe it’ll get you to loosen up a bit.” She watched as Adora flagged Scorpia down for that club soda. “What do you study at that fancy school anyway?”

Adora took a grateful gulp of her soda before answering. “I don’t exactly have a major, but I’m really into like, history and stuff.”

“History huh?” Catra said, watching her. “What’s so interesting about the past?”

Adora’s eyebrows furrowed. “In order to understand our future we have to understand our past,” she answered.

“Didja read that in one of your overpriced textbooks?” Catra teased. She grinned when the blonde rolled her eyes. “Just trying to lighten the mood. You need to relax. Have you ever relaxed before?”

Adora glanced around the bar, really taking in her surroundings. All around her people were having hushed conversations, nursing a glass of alcohol or smoking some kind of substance. These were the kinds of people her mother warned her about. The ones that she had told Adora would distract her, and prevent her from achieving her goals.

But what exactly _was_ Adora’s goal. Immediately after graduation had she chosen the farthest school from her mother as humanly possible, so that she could have the breathing room she always wanted.

What good was any breathing room if she didn’t seize the opportunity? Here she was, with her neighbour, who was showing her a whole new world, a world she had never been inside of, only on the outside looking in.

Her mother wasn’t here, and Adora could do whatever she wanted. “Carpe diem,” the blonde sighed, downing the rest of her drink.

“Atta girl!” Catra encouraged, clinking glasses with her. “Carpe collum!”

Adora’s eyebrows furrowed. “That means seize the neck,”

“Well, I mean...depending on how the night goes...” Catra’s smirk grew when Adora punched her arm. “Okay okay, sorry.”

“Why me?” Adora asked, staring straight into the brunette’s eyes. “Why did you decide to knock on my door? There’s like, five other people on our floor,”

Catra shrugged. “Yeah, but those five other people aren’t as cute as you,” she responded cheekily. “I just...wanted to get to know you.”

“So you didn’t really need the sugar?” Adora asked, an eyebrow raised.

Catra laughed. “No, I totally needed the sugar. Meeting you was just a bonus.”

“Are you going to keep hitting on me all night?” Adora scoffed, thanking Scorpia for the refill on her whiskey.

Another toothy grin. “That depends. Are you gonna let me?”

Adora would be lying if she said she didn’t love the mischievous look on Catra’s face in that moment. “Okay, just for that, you can ask me anything you want.”

Catra raised a brow. “Really? No holds barred?”

“No holds barred.” Adora repeated, nodding.

“Why did you come here?”

Adora hadn’t been expecting that. The simple answer was to get away from her mother, but truth to be told, she really didn’t know. “I wanted...freedom. I think...I thought moving away from home would give me that. Plus BMU has the best literature department in the state,”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Nerd.”

“Hey! You asked!”

Catra nodded. “I did. I have another question. Do you think I’m hot?”

A blush rose to Adora’s cheeks. “Wh—What kind of question is that?!” she whispered harshly.

“A simple one, if you ask me,” Catra responded, clearly waiting for her answer.

“I—I mean, it’s a little on the spot!” Adora continued to sputter in protest.

“You know, you don’t have to answer it, Blondie,” she told her, putting her arm around her shoulder. More grinning. “Unless, I have that much of an effect on you.”

Adora pushed Catra hard enough to make her fall out of her chair. “How’s that for an effect?”

Catra grinned. “Well played.”

 

* * *

 

The next time Catra had knocked on her door, Adora had been expecting her. They had made plans to watch movies together that night.

Adora would have never thought that she’d become fast friends with someone like Catra, but the more they talked, the more she realized she had a lot in common with the brunette.

They had gone from occasionally seeing each other in the hallway, to texting each other almost every waking minute of the day.

Catra was...fun. A gateway to a world Adora had been forbidden from her entire life. She felt like she was becoming one of her closest friends.

And as they sat down on her couch to watch some historical drama, she couldn’t help but feel warm.

Bow and Glimmer, they were great friends. But Catra...Catra understood her on an entirely different level. She was just...otherworldly.

“You gonna keep staring Blondie, or do you want to take a picture?”

“Huh?” Adora blinked slowly, realizing she had zoned out. “Was I staring at you?”

Catra laughed. “Yeah. It looked like you were lost in thought. What were you thinking about?”

“You,” Adora answered quietly. “Well—I mean, I didn’t think we’d ever become this close,” she emphasized her point by nodding to the blanket wrapped around them. “I feel like I can relax around you. I mean, you got me drunk the second time we met,”

Catra smirked. “You babble when your drunk by the way,” she teased. “You said some very interesting things about my tits.”

“I— _what_?!” All Adora could remember before waking up face first on her couch the morning after was Catra introducing her to vodka. The rest of the night was honestly a mystery. “W—What exactly did I say?” she pressed, shaking Catra when a knowing smirk spread across her features.

Catra leaned in close, her face mere inches from Adora’s. “It’d spoil the fun if I told you, wouldn’t it?”

The heady smell of cinnamon and vanilla filled Adora’s senses, her heart starting to race a mile a minute. Had Catra’s eyes always been this pretty? Had her lips always been this plump? Adora found herself glancing at the other girl’s lips before meeting her eyes again.

It seemed like Catra was having the same exact thoughts, considering the space between them was becoming more and more nonexistent by the minute.

Before she knew it, she could hear Catra’s breathing as clear as day. Ragged, quick breaths that made Adora’s heart skip a beat.

“Adora,” Catra hadn’t called her that for  a long time. She’d always call her Blondie. So for her to say her name so softly, so hesitantly, Adora knew what was coming next. “Can I—”

“Yes,” Adora answered breathlessly before Catra can even ask.

Their lips meet feverishly, neither knowing exactly where to start. But once they found their rhythm, sparks were flying behind Adora’s eyes.

Catra’s teeth were sharp, almost feline like, and she used them to softly bite Adora’s bottom lip, earning an appreciative moan from the aforementioned girl.

Catra’s mouth had moved from Adora’s lips to occupy her neck, leaving love bites where she saw fit.  Adora could feel her smirk at how much she was enjoying this.

Adora’s head was swimming, she had never kissed anyone before, boy or girl, and she surely had never let someone leave hickeys on her pristine skin. But that just added more to the thrill of it all.

The thrill of waking up in the morning and seeing that her next door neighbour had marked her, _branded_ her. The thrill of wearing a sweater, knowing that at any moment someone would be able to see what she had been doing the night before.

It lit a fire in her belly.

One that only Catra could quell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> second chapter. i have no idea how long this is gonna be, but i hope everyone likes this chapter. if youd llike to leave a tip my ko-fi is here. https://ko-fi.com/jupiterrising

**Author's Note:**

> this fic long. long fic. Written for the people who helped me get vet care for my doggo. If you'd like to just leave a tip in the tip jar, here's my ko-fi. https://ko-fi.com/jupiterrising


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